Everyone wants to be passionate about their work. They want to be passionate about their life. They want to be passionate about their relationships. We really all crave passion; whereas balance is about boundaries. Balance is about pulling back. Balance is about protecting yourself.
Now there’s another side to this, which is to say, Why would you not embrace things you did? Why would you not approach them with gusto? Why would you not try to relish every moment? I think you don’t because you’re afraid. We’re all afraid right? It’s really scary. What happens if you really try something and you really want something and it doesn’t turn out the way that you want it to? It’s hard right? Really. That sucks. It’s awful.
But, it’s okay. If you don’t try it, then you’ll never know. It’s okay to be bad at something. It’s okay to be mediocre. I mean, we have these Olympian standards. We all think we should be remarkable at absolutely everything because we look around and everything is so medium and we see the best of the best. The reality is no; No, most people aren’t really good at stuff.
You find out what you care about and if you care about something and you keep doing it over and over and over again you’ll get a little bit better each time. And when you do something not very well, then you discard it and you move on. So it becomes a trial and error scenario. Which is to say, that you do fail. You fail along the way. But you have to start somewhere. So just start. Just jump in. Just see where you go naturally and you’ll move toward the things you’re likely be passionate about. Just stick with them. And when you fail, then pick yourself up and move on. It won’t bother you so much next time or the time after that. Then you won’t even notice that you did something that didn’t work well.
This comes by way of Sunny Bates. I don’t know what it is about this woman but she has this charisma and charm. You are drawn to what she says and the way she says them… and you listen. It’s no wonder, she’s so successful at what she does. Connecting people.
I digress. I don’t completely agree with everything she says. Embracing mediocrity totally challenges and goes against who I am so deeply – it just feels wrong doesn’t it? However, I keep reading it over and over and suddenly I feel less pressure. It is this pressure that sometimes becomes the biggest resistance to getting actual work done or creating meaningful relationships with people.
Tags: balance, fear, motivation, passion
It’s nice to see you attacking this issue, and doing it with class. I’m finding it’s hard for me to talk about it without sounding cynical. But I think you’re on the right track. Get the work done, and evaluate later.